TELLY legend Brendan O’Carroll has revealed he would have turned into Mussolini-like dictator if he’d gone into politics.
The Mrs Brown’s Boys star said at the start of his career he’d planned to follow his late mum Maureen into politics to get something done but then changed his mind.
The Mrs Brown’s Boys star said at the start of his career he’d planned to follow his late mum Maureen into politics to get something done but then changed his mind.
Comedian Brendan O'CarrollCredit: Crispin Rodwell - The Sun Dublin
She was a Labour TD for Dublin North-Central in the 50s.
Brendan told the Irish Sun: “Politics is in the family so what I used to say back then, ‘I will run for office when I have enough money and I don’t need to depend on the money it pays.’
“But when I got that sort of money, I decided, f**k that, I’m not going to be a politician. But had I decided to be a politician, I would have been an ‘Il Duce’ dictator’.
“I wouldn’t start negotiating with ministers, I would say this needs doing. Now get it done. Democracy doesn’t allow for that.”
Bren, 64, said countries the world over are battling the exact same problems — and it’s all down to the politicians.
He said: “Try and pick a country that doesn’t have the same problem. A lot of it is down to politicians being in a bubble.
“In America, that bubble got burst the wrong way and they ended up elected a guy who they hoped would disrupt things but he disrupted things in a different kind of way.”
RE-ELECTION TRAIL
He added: “If you ask most politicians, they’ll tell you their re-election campaign starts the morning after their election.
“If we had a maximum of two terms, politicians would actually get everything done on their second term because they weren’t looking for re-election. They’d sort out the homeless and the hospitals.
“Instead every five years someone else comes in with a new idea and they change it, that just leads to waste and things getting overlooked.”
Finglas man Brendan also insists he wouldn’t be interested in taking over from Michael D Higgins as President.
He said: “I think the Aras should be there to honour people who have served their country but in a different way to how I have served my country, hopefully making them laugh.
“Anyway I think we have the perfect President at the moment, who has did a wonderful job in his previous position as Minister for the Arts. I think the last two Presidents did a wonderful job too. So I think there are better people out there to be President than me.”
Brendan O'Carroll and his wife Jenny with our man Ken Sweeney. Credit: Crispin Rodwell - The Sun Dublin
SOLDIERS HONOURED
Meanwhile, Bren told how he plans to honour Irish soldiers in his new sitcom.
Lebanese Outpost, first revealed in the Irish Sun, is based on a bunch of Irish soldiers turned peacekeeping troops who patrol the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Dad-of-four Brendan said: “We’re making the pilot in either August or September with the filming done in Spain or even the Lebanon if it’s quiet over there, and studio stuff in Glasgow.”
He describes the new BBC show “as a mix of M*A*S*H and 70s BBC sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum” — with Brendan delighted to be getting help from the Defence Forces in tracking down peace keeping uniforms from the era.
Brendan said: “Hopefully they understand that I am not going to denigrate our Defence Forces because I have huge respect for them. I want to create something which has comedy and pathos but mostly show how hard our guys worked over there.
RTE INVOLVEMENT
“At the same time, I want to show, we’re Irish and you’re not going to have a war without the craic, so f**k that!”
There’s no word yet if RTE will be involved with Lebanese Outpost as they did with Mrs Brown’s Boys.
And Brendan revealed he originally wanted British audiences to think that Mrs Brown’s Boys was a bought in sitcom off RTE.
Brendan said: “The BBC told me they didn’t need RTE involved when they decided to make Mrs Brown. They said they could afford to make it on their own but I wanted them onboard because I have a soft spot for
RTE.
“We have 5million people, only 3million of which are working and paying tax. Yet in Ireland we want the same roads, and traffic lights as the UK next door where 54million people pay tax.
“These stories about Ireland losing out on Ballykissangel to the BBC are rubbish because comedy is expensive and they could never have afforded to make shows like that or Father Ted.
“With Mrs Brown, we make it for a production company and BBC and RTE are the broadcasting partners, everybody pays what they can afford.”
Mrs Brown's Boys star Brendan O'CarrollCredit: Handout
Brendan said he regrets that the national broadcaster is facing a €60million cost-cutting plan.
He said: “If RTE were gone tomorrow, we’d miss them. Without them we’d never have heard of Podge and Rodge or Dustin The Turkey, or Bosco? Who the f*** would put a wooden spoon on TV?”
Brendan as speaking at the FAI HQ, as he launched the second year of the Mrs Brown FAI Heart Care programme to protect young players from sudden cardiac arrest.
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